How to build c++ from the command line in windows 10

download cmake for windows and install it. https://cmake.org/download/
download visual studio installer from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
run installer and choose Build Tools for c++
go make yourself a drink

The rest of all this is done from the shell and any editor

make a junk directory somewhere and put these files into it

main.cpp

#include <iostream>
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    std::cout << "hello world!\n";
    return 0;
}

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(hello)
add_executable(hello main.cpp)

vscmd.bat

%comspec% /k "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat"

run vscmd.bat

this sets up the visual studio tools paths and god knows what all. Don't read the batch file that gets called from this batch file, you'll go blind. Just make sure the path to it is correct

type mkdir build

this is where we are going to put the build files so we don't pollute our sources

type cd build

go there

type cmake -G"NMake MakeFiles" ..

this tells cmake to generate the files that the tools need to actually build stuff. The two dots (..) tell cmake to look for the CMakeLists.txt file one directory up Now you see a whole bunch of stuff that cmake generated, one of which is a file called Makefile. This is what we need.

type make

this is running a VS tool called make that reads the files that cmake generated and finally builds the thing You should see hello.exe

mtvee/windowscpp.md

How to build c++ from the command line in windows 10